“We do,” Hazel spoke up. “It’s totally fine. She’s great.”
“I’m sure she is,” Gayle gathered her things together. “It’s nothing against you personally, really. But I’ve got a boyfriend, and I’d really like to keep him.”
“It’s okay. I get it.” Kiki was doing a banner job of not getting offended. “Just so you know, I would never do anything to take a man from anybody. I’m not like that.”
“That may be true, but once he saw you, it wouldn’t matter. I can’t have that. I’m really sorry, but goodbye.” With that, she practically vanished in a puff of smoke.
“Well,” Sara closed the door behind Gayle. “If all it would take was one look, she’s probably going to have trouble keeping her boyfriend anyway.”
“Got that right,” Trinity snarled.
“Oh well.” Exhausted by the scope of her day, Kiki slumped into the chair the panicked young woman had just vacated. “Is there any more of that wine,” she asked pointing to their glasses.
“You’d better believe it.” Hazel was up in a flash. Taking out two glasses, she waved one at Sara. “Don’t feel like joining us for a couple of drinks, do you?”
“Are you kidding,” Sara smirked. “I never drink wine.”
Chapter Two
Thayne hated it.
Everything from the little charms strewn across the counter to the old, ornamental brooms that hung from the walls. It all seemed to elicit displeasure from within. Hiding in the shadows behind the counter with a clerk’s apron tied around his waist, a deep scowl overtook his face.
Had anyone told him he’d end up in this ridiculous attire, stuck inside an Enchantress’s shop, he would’ve laughed until his stomach hurt. Of course, Sara hadn’t been laughing when she’d asked him for a favor. And how could he have said no to his Master’s Beloved? He couldn’t. Which was why he was in the last place anyone would’ve expected Thayne Nicolaides to be found.
Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the Witch Way Supply Co. was in for a busy morning. He’d only assisted one customer since opening the shop—a loopy Othercross University first-year. It had been easy enough to find the dusty textbook the girl had asked about.
Now bored, he paced the length of the shop, taking in the myriad of items that littered the room. A few bottled concoctions occupied a glass case in one of the corners along with wire baskets brimming with silver charms—he kept a healthy distance from those—and the wall shelving was packed with ancient books, two rows deep.
While most of the items were serious witch material, some of the displayed merchandise was directed at the humans who wandered in on accident. There were faux charms in a pot sitting by the counter, keychains with broom-flying witches, and tongue-in-cheek books with names like Life’s a Witch and Then You Die and Yes, Margaret, Witches Are Real and You Are One.
Thayne couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to shoplift anything as useless as those items, especially considering their low prices. It was far more effort to dodge an Enchantress’s spell than it was to fork over a few dollars. Then again, some people just liked the thrill of shoplifting, and he figured stealing from an Enchantress was double the thrill.
As far as Thayne was concerned, there was nothing thrilling about Enchantresses. The only thing he liked about such creatures was the generous distance he kept away from them. He shuddered as he recalled his last encounter with an Enchantress, blood rising to his pallid face.
“Not going there,” he muttered under his breath, pushing the memories to a dark corner of his mind. It was bad enough he was stuck inside an Enchantress’s shop. There was no way he’d allow one to take residence inside his head. Besides, he had more important stuff to worry about.
The sooner he caught the thief, the sooner he could leave. Of course, it didn’t help that there wasn’t much action. After that first-year student he’d helped, only a couple more customers came into the shop, and none had been remarkable. He’d watched all of them like a hawk, noting every detail of their demeanor and mentally filing the information, but he had seen nothing suspicious. Aside from a delivery he had signed for, nothing more had happened, so the first few hours of the morning went by slowly.
Against all odds, though, he gradually felt more at ease inside the shop. The job was easy enough, which allowed his mind to wander, and he busied himself with trying to figure out the owner. It was a female—that one didn’t take a genius to deduce—and she had to be someone roughly Sara’s age.
She had to be hard-working too, as everything about the shop spoke of a tidy and well-organized person. Despite the funky, whimsical feel of the interior, nothing had been left to chance. The jars and bottles had been lined up symmetrically, most of the merchandise had its proper and logical place, and there wasn’t a speck of dust to be found.
When he checked the shop’s accounting books, he wasn’t surprised to find them as orderly as the rest of the shop. No wonder the owner was anxious about catching this thief. For someone who probably prided herself on creating order out of chaos, an insidious little shoplifter had to feel like a wrecking ball.
He stopped his analysis of the owner when he caught himself imagining what she’d look like. Enchantresses were problematic enough without anyone daydreaming about them. He didn’t want to make his life even more difficult. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d even have to see her. Ever. Sara had guaranteed him the shop owner would keep away while he did his thing, and he had no reason to believe she’d lied.
He checked out the clock mounted on the wall and drummed his fingers against the wooden counter. Dammit. He still had an hour to kill before lunch. So, he wandered down the aisles once more, trying to imagine himself as a wily shoplifter. Clearly, he couldn’t be dealing with a human.
Any Enchantress worth her salt would have put a watchkeeping spell over the shop if she suspected foul play. Any non-magical being would have been tripped up by the casting. Whoever was behind this had to know a thing or two about magic. That would make the thief harder to catch, sure, but it did nothing to dampen his determination. Whenever he decided he’d do something, he didn’t stop until it was done.
Of course, that meant he’d have to keep coming back until he caught the thief. Not something he looked forward to, but he tried not to obsess about the future. He didn’t trust Enchantresses, and he sure as hell didn’t like being around them, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t focus on the task at hand.
“What’s this?” he muttered, stopping in front of a small display case lined with charms. The display card read Blood-B-Gone and, even though he’d heard of these things, he had never actually seen one. Intended for the messy eaters of the vampire world, they were supposed to keep one tidy and clean instead of looking like a blood-soaked monster of the night.
He was about to open the case when he heard the usual bell jingle coming from the door, indicating that another customer had just walked in. He smoothed out the front of his apron and put on his best I’m-happy-to-be-a-clerk smile. When he turned the corner, though, his smile vanished fast.
She didn’t notice him as she walked down the center aisle, her jet-black hair drifting behind her. Her striking blue eyes were focused on some point behind the counter, and she made a straight line there.